Who thought Anakin had terrible pick-up lines?

First, the best pick up line is, "Hi, can I join you?" followed shortly by, "What's you name? ... etc "

Its actually kinda funny. Anakin likes to "trust his feelings" and "use his instincts" in everything he does (sometimes doing bad things like killing tuskens and rushing to fight Dooku alone) except when he talks to Padme. There he thinks about everything waaaaaay too much and things come out badly. I mean he says some things that you'd never want to say to someone you're trying to flirt with and generally acts in a way that is very anti-challenge. Declaring your undying love and devotion is definately not a good way to seduce someone who doesn't yet think about you in the same way. There is no way that Anakin gets Padme if he's not a Jedi (the chosen one at that), doesn't loose his mother (that one's debatable) and doesn't go through the emotion ordeal on Geonosis with Padme.

Everything in the movie fit the situation
and the characters. He's been fixated on
Padme for ten years and he's apparently
had no other girlfriends and he's inexperienced.
And he's supposed to be emotionally immature.

The desperation and bluntness and vulnerability he showed in the fireplace scene was exactly what was needed. It makes the audience uncomfortable to see a guy throw himself at a girl like that. So be it.

The romantic lines Anakin delivered to Padme` were very corny and I personally didn't believe that Lucas did that intentionally.

Now, I can understand Anakin has not had much experience with women (except his Mother) so he is very sketchy in charming women. Now comes my point. If someone is inexperiences with women, they tend not to spout out countless corny serious lines, they tend to try and make jokes and be "smooth".

These jokes tend to be pre-arranged and rather bad, with the woman only laughing out of pity. Sure some corny lines do come into play, ones like "your so beautiful", but noone in their right mind would say some of the lines Anakin did. Woman experience or not. People just dont say them.

I think Lucas was trying to get Anakins inexperience across in the dialogue, but I think he went a bit too far into the cliche` department. The scenes took themselves a bit too seriously, and this is evident in the Anakin and Padme`s duologue. If Anakin tried to make jokes, be witty and charming, but ultimately failing, then I would of believed it. But throwing cliche`s and serious facial expressions around in a scene with a character like Anakins leaves most viewers unconvinced, and makes the scene seems "corny" unintentionally.

I like Star Wars, I really do. But I can admit that Lucas is not a talented sceenwriter, he is a director and an ideas-man. His dialogue tends to be contrived and lacking certain emotion. There are by far worse writers than Lucas, but with the money he has, he can hire one helluva screenwriter to do that part of his job for him, and if he does I guarantee that the movies will benefit from it.

I think Lucas just can't write a decent screenplay. He's actually said he hates the screenwriting part of the movie too (He said it on Biography). Maybe he just hire Larry Kasden again and give us a good script...

Overall I thought Hayden did a good job, there were some lines though that even he couldn't save.

For example, the whole sand line. Personally if a guy ever sad that to me, I'd inch away discreetly and avoid him for the rest of my life. Wasn't there supposed to be another line with it connecting it to Tatooine? That would have made much more sense and been half as painful to listen to.

While the love story was obviously neccessary, I just wish some of the dialogue could have been improved.

The romantic lines Anakin delivered to Padme` were very corny and I personally didn't believe that Lucas did that intentionally.

While I have to agree with this on the line that I mentioned earlier (the "kiss becoming a scar" one), personally, I think that the intro scene was very intentional. The part "for a senator, I mean" was just too great not to be intentional. You could tell he was trying to save the "grown more beautiful" comment, but just ended digging himself a deeper hole. I can just picture him wincing afterwards.

The difference between Lando's lines and Anakin's is that while Lando feels free to belt out corny lines, Anakin is trying to say something meaningful, but in the end it still comes out corny. He's too self-conscious to just ignore them. Lando, on the other hand, is too smooth to care. This is why people don't have as much of a problem with Lando's lines as they do with Anakin's. We empathize with the characters; Anakin is internally cringing at what he just said, so we do as well.

As for Han, he's too much of a player to let anything faze him. Heck, Leia disses him more times that Padme disses Anakin, and he's still making innuendos and such. Also, he doesn't pursue her; he just lets things take their course. Anakin's problem is that he can't let go, even after Padme all but tells him she's not interested. In the end, I think this is what sways her: his unswerving loyalty. This isn't necessarily a good idea for her, but then again, she apparently doesn't always make good decisions.

George Lucas actually admitted he hates screenwriting? How hard can I pound on these keys without breaking them? Then why in the world doesn't he do the actors a favor and hire a decent writer? I don't know why I bother letting it concern me. He won't do it. I know it. He just won't do it.

No kidding; if Padme is impressed by Anakin's bad-high-school-drama one liners it would be so damn easy to land her. I think we all know why George Lucas hasn't had a date in years if he can't do better than that!

Imagine if Lando just happened to walk into the room right after Anakin had said, "More beautiful, I mean..." He'd be like, "DAMN white boy! You can't talk to da woman like that!"

Anakin's lines cannot be construed as "pick up lines." If he was only hitting on Padme, it'd be more of a sexual thing, not a romantic thing. Anakin's lines are good if you're in love with someone, not if you're just looking for someone to sleep with.

Anyway, it's basically the way Anakin is trying to express his feelings. He can talk about politics and his adventures as a Jedi. But when it comes to expressing his true feelings, he comes off as awkward and in some cases, corny.

You know, there is one line of Anakin's that bugs me and it's not even one of his gimp-laden pick-up lines.

"Life seems so much simpler when you're fixing things."

You've never worked on a car before have you boy? You've never had to flush your radiator, or replace your water pump, or change the timing chain, or try and rip a stripped and piping hot bolt from an oil pan have you?

IMO, Anakin's lines and actions were dangerously close to sexual harassment. If I tried any of that "soft and smooth" crap with a real woman I would be bent over in pain holding my groin within minutes.

Ok, earlier in this thread I was mad, pounding on the keys...and I know I am taking a great risk here at coming across as a silly woman, but sometimes just the thought of this problem gets me close to tears! There was such an opportunity for the romance scenes between Anakin and Padme to really touch the hearts of the audience. And before I go any further I have to admit when I see the fireplace scene my heart goes out to Anakin. I see his suffering, and I do see his love. But, something was missing. Something that should have left people saying, "wow". I can't put my finger on it. I wanted to see the beginnings of deep burning love that was undeniable between the two of them. A love that we had no doubt about being so strong that it would defy all the rules. That's what I wanted to see and hear.